vi Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 
The Secretary submitted the following Report of Council for the Session :— 
The Council begs to submit the following account of the work accomplished 
during Session 1913-1914. At the statutory six Ordinary meetings of the Society 
twenty-four communications in all were read, covering a wide field in Zoological 
and Paleontological science. The majority of these were illustrated by demon- 
stration of the objects referred to with microscopes or otherwise, or by lantern 
slides. Seven of the papers have been printed in full, in Parts 5 and 6 of Vol. xix. 
of the Proceedings of the Society, and a few have been held over for future 
publication when the authors have had opportunity to complete their obser- 
vations. 
A general classification of the published papers will give some notion of the 
nature of the fresh contributions to scientific knowledge made by the Society during 
the year. Both vertebrate and invertebrate subjects were represented. Observa- 
tions of biological interest hold first place in importance, additions of considerable 
value having been made to our knowledge of the habits and life-histories of the 
mites of the sea-shore, of bird-parasites (Mallophaga), of the Pine Weevil 
(Hylobius), of the beetle Passalus wnicornis, and of the cuckoo, Associated with 
the majority of these observations were detailed accounts of the structures of the 
creatures discussed, especially of such features as are employed in classification. 
Four papers deal specifically with systematics and geographical distribution. 
These record one genus of fossil Myriapods (the first example of a rolling Myriapod 
from the Carboniferous period) and two species of spiders new to science; eight 
species of spiders new to the fauna of Britain ; and thirteen species of spiders and 
one sea-shore mite new to the fauna of Scotland. Three papers gave suggestions 
as to the technique of collecting and preserving special groups of animals; and at 
least one paper, that on the Development of the Reproductive Organs of the Pine 
Weevil (Hylobius abietis), promises to- be of some economic importance in the 
efforts to eradicate ‘‘one of the worst insect enemies of the forester in this 
country.” These scientific papers have been illustrated by three lithographic 
plates and over twenty figures in the text. 
At a recent meeting the Council decided to form a collection of framed 
portraits of past Presidents of the Society, to hang in the Society’s rooms in the 
Synod Hall. During the past year the first portrait of the series, that of 
Dr Robert Brown, President from 1870-73, was gifted to the Society. 
The year showed no marked fluctuation in the Roll of Fellowship. Four new 
Fellows have been elected, and one has resigned. But the Society has also lost, 
by death, two Fellows—Mr Alex. Mackay, of Thurso, and Sir John Murray, 
K.C.B., Ph.D., LL.D,, F.R.S. A motion expressing the regret of the Society at 
the loss of this distinguished naturalist has already been recorded in the minutes 
of the Society, at the instance of a General Meeting. The Council exceedingly 
regrets the reported loss of Mr James Murray of Edgeware, Middlesex, in the 
Arctic Regions. Mr Murray, who became a Fellow in 1905, was one of the most 
active of our members in scientific work, first as biologist on the Lake Survey 
of Scotland, then as biologist on Sir Ernest Shackleton’s first Antarctic 
Expedition. Thereafter he.made scientific explorations in the northern parts of 
South America, and he is reported missing, still in the midst of scientific labours, 
